Originally Posted by canice
my friend called me this afternoon to ask for my help in changing a set of tires (he had no pump, levers, or know-how) on his 35-lb canadian tire behemoth. after one explosive tube and 30 minutes later, i notice something weird about his brake levers. they're on top of his grips, not in front. i ask him how he brakes, and he says, very awkwardly. i take a look at his front v-brake... it's behind the fork. his right lever controls the front brake, and the left lever the back.
"that's odd," i tell him. "does it feel twitchy when you turn?"
(he nods his head)
"is it really hard to make smooth u-turns?"
"uh-huh"
"marc... those potheads at canadian tire put your fork and your brake levers on backwards."
20 minutes later and 1 test ride later, he's making circles in the park across the street from his house, and saying, "it's like i can ride a bike again!"
ugh. (beats head against wall)
also, i'll be taking pictures at bike polo in trinity bellwoods tonight (6-9pm). anybody here playing?
That is funny, I also have a story about a Canadian Tire bike. For the Becel Ride, a woman on the team asked me to help her out with the bike she was riding. She is in my neighbourhood so I dropped by and she pulls out some old Supercycle that is in
really rough shape. The thing had to be about 15 years old and clearly hadn't been serviced since it was purchased. I played around with it for a bit but the chain was rusty and the brakes were garbage and I asked her if she had any other bike that she could use, even just borrow from a friend for a day. She thinks for a sec and says "Oh, my son left a bike in the garage when he moved out, what about that?". I am thinking it is probably another Supercycle POS but it couldn't be worse so I say "Sure, let's see it." and she goes into the garage and pulls out a Cannondale! Full 105 from the early '90s, light as a feather and it even fit her! These office types are odd.